Ludlow Independent Public Schools approved 16 contracts for their district-wide school renovations at the meeting of the Board of Education on Thursday, bringing the project’s funding and administrative framework into its final stages.
“The contractors aren’t waiting on [the board] to do anything,” said Bill Cobb, a project manager from Codell Construction, the firm responsible for managing the construction. “They’ve got what they need to do their work. It’s essentially a formality to get the signatures on it… Things are moving.”
The district broke ground on the project in October. The facility improvements will include a new cafeteria, a new library, a new band room, an updated maker space, new art rooms, technological improvements, additions to the auditorium, improvements to ventilation systems, as well as general improvements to the flooring, walls, ceilings and other internal infrastructure.
The contract approvals solidify the necessary legal and administrative prerequisites for carrying out the majority of the construction, with the exception of some potential additions to the auditorium, which would be funded with a nickel tax.
Superintendent Mike Borchers said he was confident the district would get the money, but it wouldn’t be available until after the close of next year’s state legislative session.
“These are all 16 contracts that will get the entire project done,” Borchers told the members of the board. “We had the [auditorium alternate] that we’re waiting for till the spring, and once we finalize that, once we get the funding, we’ll come back and do the final contracts on those.”
The remaining funding came from two sources: $23 million from Kentucky’s School Facilities Construction Commission, which issues state funds for school construction projects throughout the commonwealth, and about $10 million in bonds the district issued in August.
The project hit a bit of snag in September, when the district failed to secure bidders for the construction’s masonry and general trades contracts, prompting Ehmet Hayes, the project’s architect, to re-advertise the jobs. The board later accepted the bids in October.
The board also approved the purchase of a property on Elm Street across from the elementary school, an old gas station that will be converted into additional parking for the district. The district will purchase the building from the Catalytic Fund of Northern Kentucky.
Cobb stated at the groundbreaking in October that the renovations are expected to take 27 months to complete.
You can see a full list of the firms involved in the contracts approved at Thursday’s meeting on the meeting’s agenda.
The next meeting of the Ludlow Independent Schools Board of Education will take place on Jan. 18, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. at the Jon E. Draud Administrative Center on Elm Street.